


Dancing in the Moonlight

by she_who_the_river_could_not_hold



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anxious!Clarke, Autumn, F/M, Fluff, Halloween, Mild Language, Punk!Bellamy, hand holding is it's own love language, it takes place at a haunted corn maze but it's not actually scary lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:34:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26513011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/she_who_the_river_could_not_hold/pseuds/she_who_the_river_could_not_hold
Summary: Clarke Griffin may love autumn, but she doesn't exactly do horror. Which is why it's against her better judgement that she finds herself at The Ark's Haunted Grounds this year, dragged there by her friends. She's prepared to be on edge the whole night, but then Octavia Blake's older brother and his friends join the party unexpectedly. Her fear of scary things outweighs her fear of him finding out that he has a crush on her –– especially once he becomes determined to look out for her in the haunted corn maze.Maybe Halloween won't be so bad this year after all if the way he holds her hand is any indication.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Comments: 21
Kudos: 133





	Dancing in the Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably the most self-indulgent fic I've ever written.
> 
> A combination of my obsession with fall, Halloween, themed experiences, and my high school love of tropes like the studious girl falling for the punk boy. I tried to give some of the characters vague Hot Topic energy too because I can! This also accidentally has really strong season one vibes going on. You can find the moodboard and tumblr post for this fic [here](https://she-who-the-river-could-not-hold.tumblr.com/post/629523662435975168/dancing-in-the-moonlight-a-bellarke-halloween).
> 
> Title is from the song of the same name, "Dancing in the Moonlight" by King Harvest. It's a great, subtle Halloween song for all of your playlists this year for a quarantined Halloween! And speaking of songs, I also listened to a bunch of early 2000s punk/pop-punk songs while prepping this and now I've ended up starting a playlist inspired by Bellarke and songs of that time! I'll hopefully have that up on Tumblr soon! I hope you like this fic as much as I did writing it and getting in the spooky spirit!

Autumn had at last arrived in Polis and with it, said goodbye to the overly humid and muggy summer that had lasted longer than anyone had wanted it to. Leaves were changing from vibrant greens to a muted cacophony of oranges and yellows. Temperatures dropped and the air became crisp. 

It was easily Clarke Griffin’s favorite time of the year. 

She loathed summer. Always feeling sticky? No thanks. Feeling insecure about not having abs at the age of seventeen even though she knew she was healthy? Double no thanks. Spring was lame because the weather could never decide if it wanted to rain or be too hot. Plus her mom had allergies, so she felt bad for her. Winter was a close second but she always grew tired of it at some point. Fall on the other hand, she wished could last forever. Which was why she went out of her way to do everything autumnal that she could to make it last. 

What wasn’t normally on her list was anything scary –– sue her, she loved the cute cozy side of fall. Warm drinks and fuzzy blankets, harvesting pumpkins and hayrides. But her new best friend Raven had insisted on coming to The Ark’s Haunted Grounds this year and Clarke had a hard time saying no to people. 

And that was how she found herself reluctantly getting her hand stamped by a bored looking teenager (the stamp was a wonky skull and cross bones) and then dragged into the main square of the grounds. 

Polis for the most part was a pretty traditional suburban city, which meant that their outskirts were more rural, leading up to the edges of the city. Out there was more space. And during the fall, a lot of that space ended up being taken up by the company The Ark. A mastery of themed experiences, The Ark set up a huge outdoor haunt exhibit for the town each Halloween. Clarke wasn’t sure what they did the rest of the year, but every September they’d appear overnight. Tents and haunted houses. A corn maze spreading out in the back as if it had always been there. An outdoor movie theater that just played horror movies on repeat. Stalls of merchandise and food lined walkways that were paced by costumed people on stilts. 

Or at least that’s what she’d heard because Clarke never did scary things. She didn’t watch horror movies and she didn’t do haunted houses. But it looked like this was going to be the year she had to suck it up and complete the rite of passage for her Halloween experience this year.

Raven was furiously texting on her phone, leaving Clarke to shift awkwardly in place beside her. While she didn’t dress as preppy when she was younger, she still felt out of place here. Raven looked the part with her dark hair pulled back in her usual high ponytail and a swatch of smudged dark lipstick on her lips. She was the type of girl that Clarke was pretty sure had gotten winged eyeliner right on the first try. Her black skinny jeans and red bomber jacket were the icing on the cake of reminding Clarke that Raven was very much the cool one of the two of them. She just had on an olive green beanie and her normal blue high waisted jeans. Though Raven had lent her a cool black denim jacket for tonight and for her sixteenth birthday, Clarke had gotten Doc Martens from Wells so she wasn’t completely just a Barbie doll standing out. But she still sort of felt like one as she took in her surroundings. It was a silly thing to worry about, especially since  _ everyone _ came to The Ark’s Haunted Grounds, not just people who dressed alternatively. Being realistic about what she was anxious about though was never a trait that Clarke had though.

“They’ll be here soon,” Raven announced suddenly, breaking Clarke out of her increasingly panicked internal monologue. “Gina is bailing because her little sister got the stomach bug or whatever, but otherwise most everyone should be able to make it.” 

Clarke nodded, the tension in her shoulders relaxing a bit. Maybe she’d feel more at ease once there were more of her friends there. They’d be a good distraction from how out of her element she felt.

_ Or maybe not, _ she thought to herself as she recoiled from the close proximity of someone in a gruesome zombie mask.

Lucky for her though Raven was right, and only moments later a cheer from behind them indicated the arrival of the rest of their friend group. Leading the way was Octavia Blake, followed by Monty Green, Jasper Jordan and his girlfriend Maya Vie, and then rounding it out was Finn Collins. 

Clarke pursed her lips as she partially returned his head nod when their eyes caught each other’s. She still couldn’t figure out why Raven was so determined to make them all still try to be friends after they way they’d all met earlier this year. Sure it had just been one stupid kiss, but it was a memory that rolled angrily through Clarke’s mind anytime she was around the two of them at the same time. She’d been ecstatic to keep Raven as a friend through the unknown betrayal and it was only for her that she put up with Finn still.

“Friends! Hello!” Octavia as usual leads the charge. She practically picked Clarke and Raven up individually as she hugged them tightly. “Sorry we’re late! These clowns weren’t done getting high.” She elbowed Monty in the gut who groaned.

“Not sorry. There’s no way I’m going through any of this without at least some type of buzz going,” he replied playfully. 

“Speaking of, what are we doing first?” 

Maya’s excitement was palpable. Clarke’s first impression of her a couple years ago had just been that she was a quiet, if slightly alternative girl. It had taken one night of hanging out all together for her to realize she was actually an anarchist mall goth who had a penchant for horror films. She was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement right now.

They all looked around at this year’s offerings.

The maze was the same gist as usual: a corn field with a winding path that led you deeper and deeper into it, all while navigating different obstacles and scare actors in it before eventually making your way back out. Even if it changed routes, it was pretty much the same every year (according to Jasper and Maya). The other big attraction this year was their haunted house. Jasper rattled off the details of it, how it was more like an escape room than just a traditional haunted house. Each year it changed themes and this year was called Mount Weather, an escape through a radiation-filled “underground” bunker. Clarke could only assume most of the scare actors in it would be zombies or something similar. 

She fought off the squeamishness of it all while the rest of the group debated. But before a conclusion could be met, they were interrupted.

“Oh you’ve gotta be kidding me,” groaned Octavia, looking over Clarke’s shoulder. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Peeking over her shoulder, Clarke looked at who her childhood friend was directing her ire towards. 

“Hey! Bellamy!” Raven’s shout was much more enthusiastic than younger Blake’s and she ran up to give the older sibling a huge hug. 

Clarke bit back a large smile at the sight of him as well. 

Bellamy Blake had only ever existed on the periphery for her. Octavia, her, Monty, and Jasper had all known each other since elementary school. At first their friend group hadn’t spent a lot of time at Octavia’s house, but even when they did he usually made himself scarce. Or she’d see him after they’d leave a sleepover and he’d be waiting to pick Octavia up. From then and throughout middle school, at most Clarke had only ever considered him “the older brother” and nothing more. 

But then she’d entered high school, stopped having crushes on members of boy bands, and realized that she actually had a secret thing for skater guys. Something that Bellamy conveniently was. 

Plus as they’d all gotten older, he’d become more comfortable hanging out with them since they weren’t just annoying kids anymore (his words, not hers), which meant she’d seen him around more. 

She could guarantee she didn’t know half of the punk bands he listened to but she’d taken stock of all of the different band shirts he wore and wondered what it would be like to borrow one. One summer he’d grown his hair out and his shaggy black curls were better than all of the guys who straightened their hair to look cool. He did things like wear all black and sometimes she caught him smoking –– two things guaranteed to make her mom unnecessarily anxious about his character or whatever. That wasn’t necessarily a reason for Clarke to like him but it was a nice bonus. Plus he was really tall and she’d read enough romance novels from the library to like the idea of a height difference.

So somewhere along the lines, Bellamy had gone from distant older brother figure to the cool punk older brother who actually hung out with their group some. 

Clarke still couldn’t exactly pinpoint when she’d figured out she had a crush on him but it wasn’t really going away any time soon. Even before he had moved across the country, her other best friend Wells had been able to pick up on it and teased her mercilessly. 

The red of the flannel he was wearing tonight matched perfectly with Raven’s jacket and Clarke had to swallow back her petty thoughts. She knew Raven was currently falling head over heels for a girl named Luna who she’d met online in a forum and they were going to meet up for Thanksgiving. But it still didn’t feel great to watch Bellamy tease her about her new knee brace.

Behind Bellamy were two of his other friends so Clarke let herself be distracted by greeting them so she wouldn’t keep staring. She’d met Miller the most since he was Bellamy’s best friend, and only sort of knew Murphy and his girlfriend, Emori. All four of them were freshmen in college together and she’d seen each of them occasionally around. Even though Octavia seemed annoyed at the larger group forming, Clarke appreciated the backup of more people here.

“I didn’t realize you were going to stay,” Octavia grumbled as her older brother tousled her hair. 

“If you listened to me for once in your life, you would have heard me say that I was finding a parking spot,” he teased back.

“You’re not allowed to hang with us though.”

Raven booed from over where she was standing by Murphy and Emori. “Come on O, they should totally all stay. The more the merrier.”

A silent conversation was exchanged between the Blake siblings which ended up with Bellamy letting out a whoop when Octavia muttered her acceptance under her breath. After doing his best to mess up her carefully straightened hair, Bellamy stepped back into the circle they’d somewhat formed. And at that point his eyes landed on Clarke and she tried to smile confidently back. 

“Princess! I thought you hated scary shit!”

Bellamy had a shit-eating grin on his face as he clapped a hand to her shoulder but there was a twinkle in his eye that told her he was actually impressed that she’s here. She tried to not preen.

_ He’d remembered that she didn’t like horror very much, which meant he’d paid attention to her! _

Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw Finn’s eyes narrow.

Good. He didn’t get to be the one who used that nickname for her anymore.

“Well it’s Raven’s first time here since she moved her during Christmas last year, I couldn’t say no,” she responded casually (as if it hadn’t taken her best friend coaxing her multiple days and buying her a venti pumpkin spice latte to convince her).

“Guys,” Octavia whined, interrupting them. “Can we please just hurry up and choose what we’re going to do? We’re burning daylight here!”

“Technically it’s already night out so––” Jasper didn’t get to finish that sentence before Octavia punched him in the arm. 

Murphy cleared his throat before saying loudly, “Jesus, relax. Let’s just do the corn maze first. It’s the longest one so let’s make sure we get it in now. We should have plenty of time before the next movie starts if we get a move on.”

As much as he was known for offhand sarcastic comments, Murphy had a point so the group began to shuffle towards the start of the corn maze. 

The smell of hay and corn was overwhelming, tickling Clarke’s nose as they walked. Around them, children raced by in costumes and pumpkins lined the various walkways. Occasionally a whiff of cider would drift by and even though she was still scared of what she was getting herself into, Clarke at least loved the sensation of fall amongst the horror. They only had to wait their turn for a moment as a group of cheerleaders she vaguely recognized from school were ushered in first. They listened as the girls shrieked and Murphy snickered to himself, earning a smirk from Emori. Finally, after the sounds of the group ahead dissipated and they were far enough ahead, they were ushered into the maze.

The source of that early scream became quickly obvious. One of the first things they walked past was a giant sign with the name “Eden Fields” hand painted on it. Behind it was a scarecrow who lunged at them and let out a ghoulish laugh as he swung outwards. Raven and Octavia had shrieked as well before dissolving into giggles as they pushed onward with some of the boys who had also let out their fair share of yells. Clarke screamed and nearly backed into Maya who gave her a comforting smile. Her heart thumping against her chest, Clarke returned Maya’s smile with a watery one of her own and continued onward as well. 

There was no way she was going to turn around. She could do this.

As they advanced forward, the group somewhat spread out. Clarke couldn’t decide if this was better or worse. On one hand, she liked being around everyone. But stumbling on top of the others and hearing each of them react separately had also made her feel jumbled up. There was probably no way to win so she let herself drift to the center. This way at least there were people in front of her  _ and  _ behind her in case a scare actor came up from behind.

This next stretch of the maze was too quiet though and Clarke could feel goosebumps scattering on her arms as they walked forward. Emori and Raven had linked arms up ahead and were clearly having the time of their life. Maya and Jasper weren’t too far behind with Monty and Octavia beside them, creating a wall in the path. Now Clarke was wishing one of them had hung back with her so she wouldn’t feel so alone. 

Out of nowhere, Clarke felt two fingers jab into her waist. Already ticklish normally, she was twice as on edge tonight and she let out a shriek, spinning around –– right into Finn’s laughing face.

“Oh fuck off, Finn,” she snapped at him. “That’s not funny.”

“You should have seen your reaction! You jumped like a foot in the air!” 

It felt like they were in elementary school with the way he was acting. She glowered at him, trying to pick up her pace as she turned around with a huff. If he thought that this was in any way cute or a way to get her attention, he was a bigger idiot than she had thought he was. And if he thought it would be funny to scare her even more than she already was… well maybe it wasn’t actually a good idea of her to be here. She didn’t need to feel even more like a baby. 

Any second now there was going to be something else, probably some type of scary clown, and she didn’t want to have to worry about Finn grabbing her on top of that. 

She’d barely advanced, when for the second time she felt the feel of someone’s hands barely touching her jacket. She didn’t have time to react though and she whirled around as the touch quickly disappeared.

Just in time to see Bellamy shoving Finn back behind him and away from her. 

“Don’t be a dick, Collins,” he practically growled. “You know she’s already scared and you’re just being a jackass. How about you run up ahead with the rest of the group and leave Clarke alone?”

While Finn certainly had his own level of charisma to him, it meant nothing against the looming figure of Bellamy in front of him in between him and Clarke. He tried to cast a quick glance at her but her frown at him was enough to make his expression at least turn sheepish. Shouts up ahead revealed that the rest of the group had indeed found the next scare actor, further highlighting the distance between the now split up group. Finn seemed determined to not move though, but when Miller walked by and shouldered him he attitude changed somewhat. 

“Let’s go jackass,” the older guy said smoothly, his eyes narrowed underneath his beanie. Finn gulped and then nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets. 

“Who comes to a scare park if they don’t want to get scared?” He muttered as he passed her. It wasn’t a completely unfair statement but it still made tears prick at the corner of her eyes in embarrassment. She couldn’t help that she hated feeling out of control and that this was easily the worst place for that. 

“She’s not paying you to scare her,” Bellamy retorted angrily before looking over at Miller. “Just let them know I’m going to hang with Clarke. We’ll go at our own pace through here.” 

His voice was authoritative and clearly Finn didn’t feel like arguing, so he let Miller somewhat push him along to catch up with the rest of the group. The strength Clarke had been using to keep herself together deflated as soon as she watched the two guys disappear around the corner.

“You don’t have to do this,” Clarke said stubbornly, refusing to look up at Bellamy. 

She wanted to yell at herself for contradicting him –– didn’t she have a huge crush on him? What was she doing?? But she also didn’t want him to see her as the same twelve-year-old who got scared during  _ Courage the Cowardly Dog  _ when they’d all stayed up too late at a sleepover. 

“Clarke, look at me.”

The commanding tone was gone and instead was the voice she’d heard him use after Octavia had stolen his skateboard and almost immediately busted her knee on the sidewalk. They’d all thought he’d be furious at her taking his board without permission, but he’d gently talked her down from the hysterics of her bloody knee and all was forgiven. It meant he wasn’t trying to be a jerk about this and tease her, and hopefully that he wasn’t mad at her for making them split off from the rest of the group. So she slowly let her gaze shift to meet his. When she finally did, his face broke out into a smile. A soft one, just for her.

“Brave Princess,” he said proudly. “You’re this far aren’t you? Don’t let that asshole ruin tonight.” 

She looked ahead and then back behind. Even though they’d only made it past one scare, it did seem like they’d already walked awhile. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

Glancing back, she was startled to see Bellamy’s hand stretched out towards her. There were distant flood lights scattered amongst the maze so it wouldn't be completely dark and in the orange-tinted light, she could see where his thumbnail had scratched off black nail polish on it. A mark from bored Octavia no doubt and she found herself smiling and accepting his offer. 

Bellamy had always been good at taking care of their group so she willingly held onto his hand, intertwining her fingers with his.  _ She could do this. _

During the rest of the maze, Clarke had two thoughts.

The first being that holding hands with Bellamy actually helped. When they reached the scare that they’d heard just before (a man with a hockey mask and a really large fake axe), Clarke had yelped first out of fear. But then she hadn’t been able to even think about cowering because Bellamy’s hand tightened around hers and a laugh burst out of her as he helped her stumble and sprint past him. The man chased them briefly, the axe whistling through the air as he waved it at them, but Clarke was almost breathlessly distracted as the two of them ran and laughed. Eventually, on his cue to prepare for the next group, the man turned around and Bellamy and Clarke slowed to a walk again. He didn’t let go of her hand.

Which brought Clarke to her second thought: she really liked holding Bellamy’s hand. Sure at first it had helped guide her past, the two of them laughing as they caught their breath. But as they kept going deeper in the maze, in between scares, she was able to focus on how it felt. The calluses on his palm were rough against her skin and she didn’t even mind the sweat from clasping it so tightly, cooled by the breeze that picked up once they stopped running. His hand felt like safety and she had to admit that she liked the way it looked when she looked down to see their hands swinging between them.

At one point the maze entered the shell of a barn and her panic had started to come back. It was darker than the main part and there were hidden speakers playing snarling animal sounds. But he’d only tightened his grip on her hand in the dark as if he could feel her nerves returning. Even as they dodged the terrifying and bloody clown, Clarke was able to see the flash of Bellamy’s teeth as he grinned and she found herself smiling too.

The rest of the maze was a similar experience. Just as she’d begin to feel the fear creep up again, Bellamy would bring her back to focus. At one point the path entered an odd structure that was on an incline as internal walls made it look like it was spinning, making them walk cautiously up the sloping incline. Clarke had gone ahead and held onto the sides of Bellamy’s body to keep herself upright. Later as three old hags chased after them, she’d almost even gotten the lead as they ran together, hands tightly clasped. It had become a whirlwind of a time and she’d almost forgotten that they’d come with the whole group.

Eventually catching their breath, the two of them paused. Judging by how much they’d gone through already and that Clarke could tell that they had switched directions back to the main grounds. They were almost all of the way through.

“This last section is pretty intense usually,” Bellamy said, looking down at her. He smirked. “Think you’ll be able to handle it?”

“I’ve made it this far, haven’t I?” She quipped back, echoing his first words when he’d offered to walk with her. 

His smirk widened into a full on smile, making her insides feel like they were glowing.

And then he tugged her with him and they threw themselves into the final portion of the maze. 

It was disorienting at first. They were no longer on a linear path out, entering into a larger square area. The corn had been switched for stacks of hay bales, towering precariously above them. This must be where the actual maze part came from versus the path-like part of the beginning. There were different spots scattered along the edges that all looked like they could potentially be a way out of the maze. 

“There, that one!” Clarke pointed at the one at the top left. They hurried forward. 

No sooner had they taken a few steps in that the final scare actor appeared.

It was impossible to tell how tall he was, though it didn’t look like he was on stilts. Maybe it was the antlers on the demonic looking ghost mask he wore that made him look taller. Or maybe it was the fact that he was waving  _ two _ chainsaws above his hand as he began to chase them. The chainsaws grinded and grunted at them as he swung them around. Both of them reacted, stumbling and having to quickly divert themselves from. Realistically Clarke knew the actor wasn’t allowed to touch them, but her adrenaline was coursing through her all the same at the anticipation of him getting too close. 

An unexpected difficulty came from the hay bales blocking their view. Stray bits of hay had made their way onto the dirt and it removed some of the traction they’d had earlier. As terrifying as it was to have the actor chase after them, each time Bellamy’s converse slipped on the hay and he nearly brought her tumbling into him, Clarke couldn’t help but giggle. Usually followed by a shriek as she’d have to pull Bellamy back to the right to dodge him again. They repeated the cycle, running in circles as they were chased. The chill of the night air had dissipated and Clarke could feel herself beginning to sweat from the exertion, but her cheeks also were beginning to hurt from laughing at the absurdity and fun of it all. Her earlier fear was nowhere to be found. 

Finally,  _ finally _ , they were able to race just under him. With one last push, Bellamy was able to use his long legs to help propel the two of them into the far right opening –– the gap they’d eventually determined was the real exit after trial and error of multiple dead ends.

They were right and the two of them tumbled through, leaving the scare actor to slink back into the shadows to prepare for the group behind them. The hay had the last laugh though, their shoes sliding on it again and sending them to the ground. Clarke couldn’t stop laughing even as the two became entangled on the dirt. Bellamy’s laugh was contagious too. She could feel it deep within him, his stomach shaking as he laughed too and it felt like she was on cloud nine. It was only when someone nearby cleared their throat that she realized how tangled up in Bellamy she was, practically straddling him with their legs intertwined. She looked up and Bellamy tilted his head back to see their friend group looking down at them with amusement.

“Guess Clarke was able to make it through afterall!” Emori was the one to break the silence and her good natured smile was enough to put Clarke at ease. Scrambling upright, she did her best to pull Bellamy up with her (which was harder than it looked).

Once he was upright, he kept holding onto her hand and she was positive she looked ridiculous from how much she was smiling.

“So what’s next?” Miller asked quickly and Clarke was thankful that he didn’t let anyone make an obvious point about the closeness of her and Bellamy. 

“Mount Weather! Mount Weather!” Maya and Jasper chanted in unison. They were lucky they were so in love with each other so that it was cute and not weird.

While most everyone’s attention shifted to what to do for the rest of the night, Clarke adamantly ignored Raven’s pointed look at her and Bellamy holding hands. That could be a conversation they could have later. 

As much as she’d had in the maze though, she grimaced at the idea of doing the escape building. That seemed like a claustrophobic nightmare waiting to happen. Luckily she wasn’t the only one who wasn't as interested, Octavia and Monty immediately deviating from the path in search of candy and snacks (O was making a hard beeline towards the caramel apples mainly).

“That leaves the rest of us?” Jasper asked, snapping his goggles against his forehead as he was prone to do in moments of boredom.

Bellamy seemed to have picked up on Clarke’s feelings without her even saying a word, removing his hand from hers only to sling his arm around Clarke’s shoulders. “We’ll pass too, just hang out here and walk around.”

No one questioned it (Clarke did catch the further arched eyebrow of Raven’s). 

Emori looked down at her phone, the glow illuminating her face as she checked the time.

“Well Mount Weather should only take about thirty minutes, which means we should have just enough time before the movie starts. Meet back here just before midnight?” 

Everyone nodded before officially splitting off. Raven gave Clarke and Bellamy one long look before announcing she was going to catch up with Octavia and Monty. For the haunted escape, it was Maya, Jasper, Finn, Emori, Murphy, and Miller who began to make their way to the other popular ticketed attraction in the haunt. Clarke would have been more pleased at Finn’s disgruntled expression at being abandoned by both her and Raven, but she was distracted by Bellamy suddenly pulling her along towards the apple cider stand. 

“My treat,” he said quickly as she moved to grab her wallet. 

It was almost impossible to fight the blush that she knew was staining her cheeks. 

The cider was just shy of being burning hot, but the sweat from earlier had cooled and time ticked closer to midnight, the temperature had continued to drop. Clarke greedily gulped from it despite the threat of scalding her tongue. Whatever apples the booth’s owners had used were fresh and she was able to pick up a culmination of spice flavors from cinnamon to cloves. She let out a sigh of contentment, letting the steam wash over her face. When she opened her eyes again, she realized Bellamy was watching her affectionately. When their eyes met, he didn’t bother looking away and just smiled before taking his own sip of the hot cider.

Drinks secured and hands warming up, the two of them began to wander up and down the area of booths and stalls. They looked around passively without the intent to buy, just letting their feet wander as they observed the different offerings that were available. Hand-painted masks and pumpkin carving stations, alongside various stations for candy available for mostly the little kids there (not that it stopped the adults from stocking up too). At one point Clarke noticed Octavia chatting up a tall, tattooed guy running the axe throwing booth. She quickly steered Bellamy away from that potential argument and they continued on their way.

“So your friends don’t mind you ditching them?” 

Clarke wasn’t sure what made her ask the question, it wasn’t like the silence between her and Bellamy had been awkward. But still, she couldn’t help herself and her curiosity got the best of her.

He shook his head, his curls bouncing distractingly.

“Nah, they’re cool. We’ll probably come back again another weekend anyway since Emori’s brother works here and can usually swing us some discounts. Plus who knows, if the Halloween parties suck at Arkadia, we’ll just just ditch and come here.” 

He gave her a long side glance as she fell silent again, a small smile creeping onto his face.

“Besides, I hated the idea they just threw you in the deep end with this stuff. It’s okay to need someone to look out for you when you’re scared.” As he finished talking, Bellamy slowly reached his hand out towards her. 

This time there wasn’t any real need for it. After making it through the maze, the cast members walking around the entrance seemed like child’s play to her. The cider was warming her up from the inside and making her feel relaxed and cozy. She wasn’t even as close to being as scared as she had been earlier. So this felt more than just an offering to get her through the night, more than just being a cool older brother looking out for his sister’s friend.

Clarke happily accepted his outreached hand.

This time as they walked, their conversation scattered as they let the moments of comfortable silence return, they would occasionally bump shoulders with each other. He caught Clarke up on all of his classes he was taking and she shared her fears and excitement about graduating high school soon. Completely caught up in their conversation (now an argument about what was the best type of candy), she didn’t even realize that time had passed as quickly as it had until the others came bounding up.

“You would have hated that,” were the first words out of Jasper’s mouth as they approached. 

“It was so much fun though!” Maya’s enthusiastic glee was shared with nods from everyone except Miller who shook his head, muttering that he was definitely not doing that again.

“And we’ve got about ten minutes before the movie starts,” Emori tacked on excitedly. She glanced around at everyone. “Who all brought blankets to sit on?”

Finn let out an awkward cough and gave the rest of the group a hesitant wave. Clarke noticed he was determinedly not looking at her and Bellamy. 

“I’ve actually got to head back I think. Sorry I can’t stay for the movie.”

He didn’t sound too apologetic and Clarke noticed no one seemed that sorry for him to leave, Raven included. Maybe he’d continued being an ass in Mount Weather too if she was annoyed with him now as well. 

“I’ve actually got to head too, I promised my mom I’d help set up the nursery tomorrow morning.” The Green family nursery was always popular in town for its great deals on plants, the Halloween season only emphasizing that with their selection of pumpkins and other gourds. He gave each of them a hug and jogged to catch up with Finn towards the exit.

“Well, we packed blankets,” Raven replied to answer Emori’s question. “Clarke, want to come help grab them with me?”

She could tell it wasn’t much of a question, Raven’s earlier expression coming to mind, so Clarke let go of Bellamy’s hand as she nodded.

They hurried to the front of the grounds along with Murphy and Emori, flashing their stamped hands to show the workers at the front that they’d be allowed back in. But it wasn’t until the couple had split to head to their car that Raven turned to Clarke, her curiosity blatantly expressed on her face. 

“Okay, spill Griffin. Did you guys like make out or something in the corn field? I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Oh shut up. He just held my hand to help get me through it so I wouldn’t be too scared.”

The half-truth didn’t even sound right to her as she said it and Clarke fiddled with the sleeves of her jacket while Raven unlocked her car.

When her friend didn’t say anything, she finally burst out, “And maybe we held hands afterwards the whole time too even when I wasn’t scared! Which I guess means something.”

She sounded silly at the end and looked up to see Raven looking at her exasperatedly.

“Clarke,” she said as she handed over one of the blankets they’d brought, “you have to trust your gut with this. I know I haven’t known Bellamy nearly as long as the rest of you, but there’s no way he’s messing around with you. You’ve seen him, he doesn’t do shit like that unless he means it.”

Chewing on her lip, Clarke couldn’t but nod understandingly. She’d seen Bellamy in and out of relationships. Sure he could be a big flirt, but he kept his affection close to his heart.

With that vote of confidence making her feel like she was floating, the two girls returned back to the grounds with blankets in tow.

Any other fears she might have had after talking to Raven also dissipated once they returned back to the rest of the group. Murphy and Emori had beaten them back and the majority of everyone was seated on the blankets, save for Octavia and Bellamy who appeared to be waiting for them. And once they all situated themselves, Bellamy made sure to make room on his side for Clarke. Catching Octavia’s eye, Clarke shot her a quick look of something akin to permission (she hadn’t even thought of what his sister would think!) but it was returned by a subtle nod of approval.

Whew, okay. This definitely wasn’t all her imagination then.

He really did like her.

The outdoor theater was built in a way that allowed people to sprawl out, the screen elevated enough that you could sit or lay down. Bellamy had set himself up in a sort of combination of it, his backpack and jacket shoved behind them as pseudo pillows. And when he opened his arm for Clarke to join him, it was the perfect position for her to slide in and get comfortable next to him. His arm settled appropriately around her shoulders, keeping her in close to him as she adjusted how she was laying so her arm wouldn’t go numb during the movie. 

Only a few minutes later, the lights around the screen cheered as music began to play from the speakers. She wasn’t even sure what movie was playing tonight, having almost zero experience with classic horror movies, but she snuggled in closer to Bellamy just in case.

“See, you made it through the whole night,” he whispered into her hair before gently placing a kiss at her hairline. 

Clarke hummed in pride at his words. He was right, as scary as all of this had been, she’d gotten through it. And maybe actually enjoyed herself. It certainly had helped to have Bellamy with her the whole time, but it had also made her realize that maybe this scary stuff wasn’t so bad. The adrenaline rush was actually sort of fun and it was nice to just relax and let go a bit. She maybe wouldn’t be a regular here any time soon, but she had a new appreciation for the place. Despite the excessive amount of creepy crawlies and fake blood.

And as the opening credits began to appear on the giant screen, Bellamy’s warmth from his arm around her and cologne cloaking her, she smiled to herself.

Now she had another reason to love this time of year.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

>  **where else you can find me:** [Tumblr](https://she-who-the-river-could-not-hold.tumblr.com/) | [Twitter](https://twitter.com/the_river_held) | [my carrd](https://she-who-the-river-could-not-hold.carrd.co/)


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